Heinkel

Heinkel Flugzeugwerke was a German aircraft manufacturer founded in 1922 by Ernst Heinkel and headquartered in Warnemünde. It is remembered for pioneering high-speed flight: on 20 June 1939 the Heinkel He 176 became the first aircraft propelled solely by a liquid-fueled rocket, and on 27 August 1939 the He 178 made the first flight of a turbojet-powered aircraft. During the Second World War it built Luftwaffe bombers such as the He 111 and He 177 and the He 219 night fighter. After the war it was barred from aircraft manufacturing and made bicycles, motor scooters and microcars, returning to aircraft work in the mid-1950s through licensed production. In 1965 it was absorbed by Vereinigte Flugtechnische Werke, which later became part of Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm and then Airbus.